A Lovely Girl Turning into a Rat

Dong Ci got off the bus and said, “Hey everyone, we are now at the gate of the Dream Amusement Park. It has the biggest ferris wheel in Asia and the most exciting roller coaster in China. If you have heart trouble or high blood pressure, tell me now, and I will accompany you to ride on the merry-go-round.” Once at an annual meeting of Starlight International Travel Agency, Dong Ci had shared her experience with others, “As professional guides, we should have a loud voice, a sweet mouth and sharp eyes. Besides, we should be bold but cautious.”

Chen Qi stared fixedly at Dong Ci. His sharp, come-hither gaze snagged her soul.

‘None of my women has such a loud voice. She must be passionate in bed and the thought of her loud groans arouse my lust. People with loud voices are mostly not calculating. And I like simple women without scheming,’ he thought to himself.

The tourists obediently joined the queue of people waiting to enter the Dream Amusement Park like pupils. China had a large population and people had to queue wherever they were. When people travelled, they waited in queues at bus stations, railway stations or airports. When people bought things in supermarkets or drew money from the bank, they also needed to wait in lines… When people took showers in the public baths, made donations to the calamity fund, went to hospitals for abortions and cremated their relatives at crematoria, they all had to wait in lines. Even ghosts had to line up for reincarnations. Ci had been waiting in the nether world for 798 years before she had been reincarnated in a new body. In early summer, the first year of Kaixi, Ci wrapped in the mole furs had died of starvation in a cage.

T/N note:

Kaixi: the title of Emperor Ningzong’s reign of the Song Dynasty.

Chen Qi stayed in the tour bus and chatted with Xia Yan, “Tell me her number.”

Xia Yan looked at Chen Qi and shook his head. “If I do that, I’m afraid that she’ll kill me.”

Chen Qi took out a ¥100 note and handed to Xia Yan. The bank note was red which was the most beautiful color in people’s eyes.

It was a day’s wage of Xia Yan. In order to get ¥100, Xia Yan wrote down Dong Xi’s cell phone number on paper and gave it to Chen Qi.

“Aren’t you afraid of her killing you?” Chen Qi put the paper into his pocket.

“As a Communist Party member, I’m not afraid of death.” Xia Yan smiled and quickly tucked the money in the tape cartridge.

Dong Ci shaded her eyes from the sun with a small flag and counted noses. “… Thirty-eight, thirty-nine. Where is the last tourist? Did I miscount?”

The last tourist was still in the tour bus. Chen Qi looked at Dong Ci with fixed eyes as she came towards him. Her white blouse was wet through with sweat and her black bra could be seen clearly.

“The amusement park is going to open. Sir, please get off,” Dong Ci yelled. She took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off her face. The handkerchief was black too.

‘Black? She must have a strong personality,’ he thought.

Chen Qi didn’t know that the real reason Dong Ci liked black was because black clothes didn’t show the dirt.

“Please stand at the very end of the line,” Dong Ci said to Chen Qi.

Then she went to the gate of the Dream Amusement Park and said to the girl who was in charge of checking tickets. “Can you let my tourists go in first? I will buy you an iced Coke.” The girl readily agreed.

In summer, it was hot both in the morning and the afternoon. After breaking up, some people would say “go to hell” and some would console their ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends by saying “you are a good guy”. But these two sentences were essentially the same. In the hot sun, everyone was like a piece of fresh meat roasting in the oven and oozing oil from the pores.

The girl began to check tickets. Tourists rushed into the Dream Amusement Park in succession. People at the back of the line didn’t complain because they had got used to waiting. Travelling was tiring even for a person who had joined a tour group. But the party of tourists guided by Dong Ci was an exception. There were more than 2, 000 individual tourists and dozens of tour groups at the gate of Dream Amusement Park. Dong Ci’s tour group was the first to enter the amusement park because she had bought the ticket checker a cup of iced Coke.

Almost no guide would buy a cup of Coke for the ticket checker, but Dong Ci did. A cup of iced Cola cost her 5 yuan, but it brought her tourists a sense of privilege and she would receive a good write-up when the tourists filled in questionnaires. And at the end of the month, she would be rewarded with 500 yuan.

“We’ll gather at the gate of the restaurant at twelve. Here are through tickets. With the tickets, you can try all the amusement facilities without paying. Now you can go and enjoy yourself,” Dong Ci said to the tourists. “By the way, if you have heart trouble or high blood pressure, please stay away from all sorts of adventures.”

Hearing this, the tourists scattered in all directions.

Dong Ci felt relaxed and a bit reluctant to quit her job. You might not like the people whom you lived with, but you would certainly like to live with the people you liked.

“Why don’t you go to the roller coaster or the Ferris Wheel?” Dong Ci looked at Chen Qi sitting in the shade and asked, “Are you all right? You look pale.”

“I have a stomachache.” Chen Qi looked up at the roller coaster which looked like a lofty snake, letting visitors slide on its body and scream. He felt a rush of nausea and dizziness.

“Stay here and wait a minute.” Dong Ci rushed into the tour bus, opened a box and took out some capsules for stomachache and a bottle of mineral water. Then she ran back to him quickly.

“Take the medicine.” Dong Ci handed Chen Qi the Sidashu capsules which she often ate when she got a stomachache.

Chen Qi took the mineral water and found that the bottle cap seemed to have been opened. He looked at Dong Ci with inquiring eyes.

“I almost forget to tell you. I filled this bottle with cold boiled water at home and brought it here. Rest assured, it’s clean and hygienic.” Dong Ci moved closer to him and said under her breath, “All the mineral water sold here is tap water. Drinking tap water is bad for your stomach.”

“Oh, I see. Thank you,” Chen Qi said with a grateful smile.

“What’s your job? How did you get your stomach trouble?” asked Dong Ci curiously.

“I am a chef, and I often eat food on the sly. Maybe my stomach trouble was caused by overeating.” Chen Qi patted his stomach and smiled.

After chatting for a while, Dong Chi said, “You are not in pain now, right? Let’s go to the roller coaster. Come on, don’t be a coward.”

“No! I have acrophobia.” Chen Qi remained motionless.

“It is entirely psychosomatic. I’m afraid of rats, but I’ve eaten the rat meat in a restaurant.” Dong Ci took Chen Qi’s hand and led him to the roller coaster.

They had let go of each other’s hand in their previous lives, but now they held each other’s hand again. Although they thought that they had never met before, they had a feeling of familiarity and warmth when they clasped hands tightly. The deep sadness in their hearts gradually disappeared.

“It’s about to move. Are you afraid?” Dong Ci looked at Chen Qi beside her and continued, “If you are afraid, close your eyes and yell out.”

Chen Qi regarded her in earnest and said, “You are brave.”

“I’m afraid of ghosts and mice– I mean the real mice, not Mickey Mouse.” Dong Ci stuck out her tongue at him and made a face. “In fact, I haven’t ever eaten the rat meat. I lied to you.”

The roller coaster started moving slowly. When it reached the highest point, it would swoop down and then rise again, which was torture for most tourists.

The wait was agonizing. Chen Qi was scared and at the same time, a little bit relieved. ‘Fortunately, I went to the bathroom before taking the roller coaster. Though I am scared now, I won’t wet myself,” he thought.

They were slowly moving upward. Chen Qi opened his eyes and turned his head to look at Dong Ci. The sun shone on her beautiful face and he could see the fine hairs on it. Dazed and confused, he felt as if he had once seen her in a dream.

After death and reincarnation, they finally met again. Everything changed, but their love would last for eternity.

The roller coaster swooped down at a high speed.

Dong Ci tried her best to keep her eyes open. At the moment of her falling headlong down from the air, Dong Ci held Chen Qi’s hand and saw a woman with a boy in her arms standing upside down in front of them. The woman had no nose and her lips curved in a smile. The roller coaster roared through their invisible bodies, and a suffocating odor of decay filled the air. Ci screamed, “Ah! Ghost!!”

Nobody heard her because her voice was drowned out by the screams of others.

The boy imitated the screams of Dong Ci, “Ah! Ghost!!”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Nobody heard him because everyone was busy screaming.

When they got off the roller coaster, Dong Ci looked pale. Chen Qi gazed at her and asked with concern, “Are you okay?”

Dong Ci shook her head. ” Don’t worry. I’m all right.”

The tourists, who had returned to the tour bus, were already exhausted. Playing was sometimes more tiring than working.

“This is the last time I work as a guide. Thank you very much for your support. I hope you all will be happy in the days to come.” Dong Ci’s farewell speech was short and simple.

Chen Qi stared at her quietly. A ray of sunlight fell on her shoulder and she was like a flower in full bloom.